1Archive::Tar(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Archive::Tar(3)
2
6 Archive::Tar - module for manipulations of tar archives
7
9 use Archive::Tar;
10 my $tar = Archive::Tar->new;
11 $tar->read('origin.tgz');
13 $tar->extract();
14 $tar->add_files('file/foo.pl', 'docs/README');
16 $tar->add_data('file/baz.txt', 'This is the contents now');
17 $tar->rename('oldname', 'new/file/name');
19 $tar->chown('/', 'root');
20 $tar->chown('/', 'root:root');
21 $tar->chmod('/tmp', '1777');
22 $tar->write('files.tar'); # plain tar
24 $tar->write('files.tgz', COMPRESS_GZIP); # gzip compressed
25 $tar->write('files.tbz', COMPRESS_BZIP); # bzip2 compressed
26
28 Archive::Tar provides an object oriented mechanism for handling tar
29 files. It provides class methods for quick and easy files handling
30 while also allowing for the creation of tar file objects for custom
31 manipulation. If you have the IO::Zlib module installed, Archive::Tar
32 will also support compressed or gzipped tar files.
33 An object of class Archive::Tar represents a .tar(.gz) archive full of
35 files and things.
36
38 Archive::Tar->new( [$file, $compressed] )
39 Returns a new Tar object. If given any arguments, "new()" calls the
40 "read()" method automatically, passing on the arguments provided to the
41 "read()" method.
42 If "new()" is invoked with arguments and the "read()" method fails for
44 any reason, "new()" returns undef.
45 $tar->read ( $filename|$handle, [$compressed, {opt => 'val'}] )
47 Read the given tar file into memory. The first argument can either be
48 the name of a file or a reference to an already open filehandle (or an
49 IO::Zlib object if it's compressed)
50 The "read" will replace any previous content in $tar!
52 The second argument may be considered optional, but remains for
54 backwards compatibility. Archive::Tar now looks at the file magic to
55 determine what class should be used to open the file and will
56 transparently Do The Right Thing.
57 Archive::Tar will warn if you try to pass a bzip2 compressed file and
59 the IO::Zlib / IO::Uncompress::Bunzip2 modules are not available and
60 simply return.
61 Note that you can currently not pass a "gzip" compressed filehandle,
63 which is not opened with "IO::Zlib", a "bzip2" compressed filehandle,
64 which is not opened with "IO::Uncompress::Bunzip2", nor a string
65 containing the full archive information (either compressed or
66 uncompressed). These are worth while features, but not currently
67 implemented. See the "TODO" section.
68 The third argument can be a hash reference with options. Note that all
70 options are case-sensitive.
71 limit
73 Do not read more than "limit" files. This is useful if you have
74 very big archives, and are only interested in the first few files.
75 filter
77 Can be set to a regular expression. Only files with names that
78 match the expression will be read.
79 md5 Set to 1 and the md5sum of files will be returned (instead of file
81 data)
82 my $iter = Archive::Tar->iter( $file, 1, {md5 => 1} );
83 while( my $f = $iter->() ) {
84 print $f->data . "\t" . $f->full_path . $/;
85 }
86 extract
88 If set to true, immediately extract entries when reading them. This
89 gives you the same memory break as the "extract_archive" function.
90 Note however that entries will not be read into memory, but written
91 straight to disk. This means no "Archive::Tar::File" objects are
92 created for you to inspect.
93 All files are stored internally as "Archive::Tar::File" objects.
95 Please consult the Archive::Tar::File documentation for details.
96 Returns the number of files read in scalar context, and a list of
98 "Archive::Tar::File" objects in list context.
99 $tar->contains_file( $filename )
101 Check if the archive contains a certain file. It will return true if
102 the file is in the archive, false otherwise.
103 Note however, that this function does an exact match using "eq" on the
105 full path. So it cannot compensate for case-insensitive file- systems
106 or compare 2 paths to see if they would point to the same underlying
107 file.
108 $tar->extract( [@filenames] )
110 Write files whose names are equivalent to any of the names in
111 @filenames to disk, creating subdirectories as necessary. This might
112 not work too well under VMS. Under MacPerl, the file's modification
113 time will be converted to the MacOS zero of time, and appropriate
114 conversions will be done to the path. However, the length of each
115 element of the path is not inspected to see whether it's longer than
116 MacOS currently allows (32 characters).
117 If "extract" is called without a list of file names, the entire
119 contents of the archive are extracted.
120 Returns a list of filenames extracted.
122 $tar->extract_file( $file, [$extract_path] )
124 Write an entry, whose name is equivalent to the file name provided to
125 disk. Optionally takes a second parameter, which is the full native
126 path (including filename) the entry will be written to.
127 For example:
129 $tar->extract_file( 'name/in/archive', 'name/i/want/to/give/it' );
131 $tar->extract_file( $at_file_object, 'name/i/want/to/give/it' );
133 Returns true on success, false on failure.
135 $tar->list_files( [\@properties] )
137 Returns a list of the names of all the files in the archive.
138 If "list_files()" is passed an array reference as its first argument it
140 returns a list of hash references containing the requested properties
141 of each file. The following list of properties is supported: name,
142 size, mtime (last modified date), mode, uid, gid, linkname, uname,
143 gname, devmajor, devminor, prefix.
144 Passing an array reference containing only one element, 'name', is
146 special cased to return a list of names rather than a list of hash
147 references, making it equivalent to calling "list_files" without
148 arguments.
149 $tar->get_files( [@filenames] )
151 Returns the "Archive::Tar::File" objects matching the filenames
152 provided. If no filename list was passed, all "Archive::Tar::File"
153 objects in the current Tar object are returned.
154 Please refer to the "Archive::Tar::File" documentation on how to handle
156 these objects.
157 $tar->get_content( $file )
159 Return the content of the named file.
160 $tar->replace_content( $file, $content )
162 Make the string $content be the content for the file named $file.
163 $tar->rename( $file, $new_name )
165 Rename the file of the in-memory archive to $new_name.
166 Note that you must specify a Unix path for $new_name, since per tar
168 standard, all files in the archive must be Unix paths.
169 Returns true on success and false on failure.
171 $tar->chmod( $file, $mode )
173 Change mode of $file to $mode.
174 Returns true on success and false on failure.
176 $tar->chown( $file, $uname [, $gname] )
178 Change owner $file to $uname and $gname.
179 Returns true on success and false on failure.
181 $tar->remove (@filenamelist)
183 Removes any entries with names matching any of the given filenames from
184 the in-memory archive. Returns a list of "Archive::Tar::File" objects
185 that remain.
186 $tar->clear
188 "clear" clears the current in-memory archive. This effectively gives
189 you a 'blank' object, ready to be filled again. Note that "clear" only
190 has effect on the object, not the underlying tarfile.
191 $tar->write ( [$file, $compressed, $prefix] )
193 Write the in-memory archive to disk. The first argument can either be
194 the name of a file or a reference to an already open filehandle (a GLOB
195 reference).
196 The second argument is used to indicate compression. You can either
198 compress using "gzip" or "bzip2". If you pass a digit, it's assumed to
199 be the "gzip" compression level (between 1 and 9), but the use of
200 constants is preferred:
201 # write a gzip compressed file
203 $tar->write( 'out.tgz', COMPRESS_GZIP );
204 # write a bzip compressed file
206 $tar->write( 'out.tbz', COMPRESS_BZIP );
207 Note that when you pass in a filehandle, the compression argument is
209 ignored, as all files are printed verbatim to your filehandle. If you
210 wish to enable compression with filehandles, use an "IO::Zlib" or
211 "IO::Compress::Bzip2" filehandle instead.
212 The third argument is an optional prefix. All files will be tucked away
214 in the directory you specify as prefix. So if you have files 'a' and
215 'b' in your archive, and you specify 'foo' as prefix, they will be
216 written to the archive as 'foo/a' and 'foo/b'.
217 If no arguments are given, "write" returns the entire formatted archive
219 as a string, which could be useful if you'd like to stuff the archive
220 into a socket or a pipe to gzip or something.
221 $tar->add_files( @filenamelist )
223 Takes a list of filenames and adds them to the in-memory archive.
224 The path to the file is automatically converted to a Unix like
226 equivalent for use in the archive, and, if on MacOS, the file's
227 modification time is converted from the MacOS epoch to the Unix epoch.
228 So tar archives created on MacOS with Archive::Tar can be read both
229 with tar on Unix and applications like suntar or Stuffit Expander on
230 MacOS.
231 Be aware that the file's type/creator and resource fork will be lost,
233 which is usually what you want in cross-platform archives.
234 Instead of a filename, you can also pass it an existing
236 "Archive::Tar::File" object from, for example, another archive. The
237 object will be clone, and effectively be a copy of the original, not an
238 alias.
239 Returns a list of "Archive::Tar::File" objects that were just added.
241 $tar->add_data ( $filename, $data, [$opthashref] )
243 Takes a filename, a scalar full of data and optionally a reference to a
244 hash with specific options.
245 Will add a file to the in-memory archive, with name $filename and
247 content $data. Specific properties can be set using $opthashref. The
248 following list of properties is supported: name, size, mtime (last
249 modified date), mode, uid, gid, linkname, uname, gname, devmajor,
250 devminor, prefix, type. (On MacOS, the file's path and modification
251 times are converted to Unix equivalents.)
252 Valid values for the file type are the following constants defined by
254 Archive::Tar::Constant:
255 FILE
257 Regular file.
258 HARDLINK
260 SYMLINK
261 Hard and symbolic ("soft") links; linkname should specify target.
262 CHARDEV
264 BLOCKDEV
265 Character and block devices. devmajor and devminor should specify
266 the major and minor device numbers.
267 DIR Directory.
269 FIFO
271 FIFO (named pipe).
272 SOCKET
274 Socket.
275 Returns the "Archive::Tar::File" object that was just added, or "undef"
277 on failure.
278 $tar->error( [$BOOL] )
280 Returns the current error string (usually, the last error reported).
281 If a true value was specified, it will give the "Carp::longmess"
282 equivalent of the error, in effect giving you a stacktrace.
283 For backwards compatibility, this error is also available as
285 $Archive::Tar::error although it is much recommended you use the method
286 call instead.
287 $tar->setcwd( $cwd );
289 "Archive::Tar" needs to know the current directory, and it will run
290 "Cwd::cwd()" every time it extracts a relative entry from the tarfile
291 and saves it in the file system. (As of version 1.30, however,
292 "Archive::Tar" will use the speed optimization described below
293 automatically, so it's only relevant if you're using "extract_file()").
294 Since "Archive::Tar" doesn't change the current directory internally
296 while it is extracting the items in a tarball, all calls to
297 "Cwd::cwd()" can be avoided if we can guarantee that the current
298 directory doesn't get changed externally.
299 To use this performance boost, set the current directory via
301 use Cwd;
303 $tar->setcwd( cwd() );
304 once before calling a function like "extract_file" and "Archive::Tar"
306 will use the current directory setting from then on and won't call
307 "Cwd::cwd()" internally.
308 To switch back to the default behaviour, use
310 $tar->setcwd( undef );
312 and "Archive::Tar" will call "Cwd::cwd()" internally again.
314 If you're using "Archive::Tar"'s "extract()" method, "setcwd()" will be
316 called for you.
317
319 Archive::Tar->create_archive($file, $compressed, @filelist)
320 Creates a tar file from the list of files provided. The first argument
321 can either be the name of the tar file to create or a reference to an
322 open file handle (e.g. a GLOB reference).
323 The second argument is used to indicate compression. You can either
325 compress using "gzip" or "bzip2". If you pass a digit, it's assumed to
326 be the "gzip" compression level (between 1 and 9), but the use of
327 constants is preferred:
328 # write a gzip compressed file
330 Archive::Tar->create_archive( 'out.tgz', COMPRESS_GZIP, @filelist );
331 # write a bzip compressed file
333 Archive::Tar->create_archive( 'out.tbz', COMPRESS_BZIP, @filelist );
334 Note that when you pass in a filehandle, the compression argument is
336 ignored, as all files are printed verbatim to your filehandle. If you
337 wish to enable compression with filehandles, use an "IO::Zlib" or
338 "IO::Compress::Bzip2" filehandle instead.
339 The remaining arguments list the files to be included in the tar file.
341 These files must all exist. Any files which don't exist or can't be
342 read are silently ignored.
343 If the archive creation fails for any reason, "create_archive" will
345 return false. Please use the "error" method to find the cause of the
346 failure.
347 Note that this method does not write "on the fly" as it were; it still
349 reads all the files into memory before writing out the archive.
350 Consult the FAQ below if this is a problem.
351 Archive::Tar->iter( $filename, [ $compressed, {opt => $val} ] )
353 Returns an iterator function that reads the tar file without loading it
354 all in memory. Each time the function is called it will return the
355 next file in the tarball. The files are returned as
356 "Archive::Tar::File" objects. The iterator function returns the empty
357 list once it has exhausted the files contained.
358 The second argument can be a hash reference with options, which are
360 identical to the arguments passed to "read()".
361 Example usage:
363 my $next = Archive::Tar->iter( "example.tar.gz", 1, {filter => qr/\.pm$/} );
365 while( my $f = $next->() ) {
367 print $f->name, "\n";
368 $f->extract or warn "Extraction failed";
370 # ....
372 }
373 Archive::Tar->list_archive($file, $compressed, [\@properties])
375 Returns a list of the names of all the files in the archive. The first
376 argument can either be the name of the tar file to list or a reference
377 to an open file handle (e.g. a GLOB reference).
378 If "list_archive()" is passed an array reference as its third argument
380 it returns a list of hash references containing the requested
381 properties of each file. The following list of properties is
382 supported: full_path, name, size, mtime (last modified date), mode,
383 uid, gid, linkname, uname, gname, devmajor, devminor, prefix, type.
384 See "Archive::Tar::File" for details about supported properties.
386 Passing an array reference containing only one element, 'name', is
388 special cased to return a list of names rather than a list of hash
389 references.
390 Archive::Tar->extract_archive($file, $compressed)
392 Extracts the contents of the tar file. The first argument can either
393 be the name of the tar file to create or a reference to an open file
394 handle (e.g. a GLOB reference). All relative paths in the tar file
395 will be created underneath the current working directory.
396 "extract_archive" will return a list of files it extracted. If the
398 archive extraction fails for any reason, "extract_archive" will return
399 false. Please use the "error" method to find the cause of the failure.
400 $bool = Archive::Tar->has_io_string
402 Returns true if we currently have "IO::String" support loaded.
403 Either "IO::String" or "perlio" support is needed to support writing
405 stringified archives. Currently, "perlio" is the preferred method, if
406 available.
407 See the "GLOBAL VARIABLES" section to see how to change this
409 preference.
410 $bool = Archive::Tar->has_perlio
412 Returns true if we currently have "perlio" support loaded.
413 This requires "perl-5.8" or higher, compiled with "perlio"
415 Either "IO::String" or "perlio" support is needed to support writing
417 stringified archives. Currently, "perlio" is the preferred method, if
418 available.
419 See the "GLOBAL VARIABLES" section to see how to change this
421 preference.
422 $bool = Archive::Tar->has_zlib_support
424 Returns true if "Archive::Tar" can extract "zlib" compressed archives
425 $bool = Archive::Tar->has_bzip2_support
427 Returns true if "Archive::Tar" can extract "bzip2" compressed archives
428 Archive::Tar->can_handle_compressed_files
430 A simple checking routine, which will return true if "Archive::Tar" is
431 able to uncompress compressed archives on the fly with "IO::Zlib" and
432 "IO::Compress::Bzip2" or false if not both are installed.
433 You can use this as a shortcut to determine whether "Archive::Tar" will
435 do what you think before passing compressed archives to its "read"
436 method.
437
439 $Archive::Tar::FOLLOW_SYMLINK
440 Set this variable to 1 to make "Archive::Tar" effectively make a copy
441 of the file when extracting. Default is 0, which means the symlink
442 stays intact. Of course, you will have to pack the file linked to as
443 well.
444 This option is checked when you write out the tarfile using "write" or
446 "create_archive".
447 This works just like "/bin/tar"'s "-h" option.
449 $Archive::Tar::CHOWN
451 By default, "Archive::Tar" will try to "chown" your files if it is able
452 to. In some cases, this may not be desired. In that case, set this
453 variable to 0 to disable "chown"-ing, even if it were possible.
454 The default is 1.
456 $Archive::Tar::CHMOD
458 By default, "Archive::Tar" will try to "chmod" your files to whatever
459 mode was specified for the particular file in the archive. In some
460 cases, this may not be desired. In that case, set this variable to 0 to
461 disable "chmod"-ing.
462 The default is 1.
464 $Archive::Tar::SAME_PERMISSIONS
466 When, $Archive::Tar::CHMOD is enabled, this setting controls whether
467 the permissions on files from the archive are used without modification
468 of if they are filtered by removing any setid bits and applying the
469 current umask.
470 The default is 1 for the root user and 0 for normal users.
472 $Archive::Tar::DO_NOT_USE_PREFIX
474 By default, "Archive::Tar" will try to put paths that are over 100
475 characters in the "prefix" field of your tar header, as defined per
476 POSIX-standard. However, some (older) tar programs do not implement
477 this spec. To retain compatibility with these older or non-POSIX
478 compliant versions, you can set the $DO_NOT_USE_PREFIX variable to a
479 true value, and "Archive::Tar" will use an alternate way of dealing
480 with paths over 100 characters by using the "GNU Extended Header"
481 feature.
482 Note that clients who do not support the "GNU Extended Header" feature
484 will not be able to read these archives. Such clients include tars on
485 "Solaris", "Irix" and "AIX".
486 The default is 0.
488 $Archive::Tar::DEBUG
490 Set this variable to 1 to always get the "Carp::longmess" output of the
491 warnings, instead of the regular "carp". This is the same message you
492 would get by doing:
493 $tar->error(1);
495 Defaults to 0.
497 $Archive::Tar::WARN
499 Set this variable to 0 if you do not want any warnings printed.
500 Personally I recommend against doing this, but people asked for the
501 option. Also, be advised that this is of course not threadsafe.
502 Defaults to 1.
504 $Archive::Tar::error
506 Holds the last reported error. Kept for historical reasons, but its use
507 is very much discouraged. Use the "error()" method instead:
508 warn $tar->error unless $tar->extract;
510 Note that in older versions of this module, the "error()" method would
512 return an effectively global value even when called an instance method
513 as above. This has since been fixed, and multiple instances of
514 "Archive::Tar" now have separate error strings.
515 $Archive::Tar::INSECURE_EXTRACT_MODE
517 This variable indicates whether "Archive::Tar" should allow files to be
518 extracted outside their current working directory.
519 Allowing this could have security implications, as a malicious tar
521 archive could alter or replace any file the extracting user has
522 permissions to. Therefor, the default is to not allow insecure
523 extractions.
524 If you trust the archive, or have other reasons to allow the archive to
526 write files outside your current working directory, set this variable
527 to "true".
528 Note that this is a backwards incompatible change from version 1.36 and
530 before.
531 $Archive::Tar::HAS_PERLIO
533 This variable holds a boolean indicating if we currently have "perlio"
534 support loaded. This will be enabled for any perl greater than 5.8
535 compiled with "perlio".
536 If you feel strongly about disabling it, set this variable to "false".
538 Note that you will then need "IO::String" installed to support writing
539 stringified archives.
540 Don't change this variable unless you really know what you're doing.
542 $Archive::Tar::HAS_IO_STRING
544 This variable holds a boolean indicating if we currently have
545 "IO::String" support loaded. This will be enabled for any perl that has
546 a loadable "IO::String" module.
547 If you feel strongly about disabling it, set this variable to "false".
549 Note that you will then need "perlio" support from your perl to be able
550 to write stringified archives.
551 Don't change this variable unless you really know what you're doing.
553 $Archive::Tar::ZERO_PAD_NUMBERS
555 This variable holds a boolean indicating if we will create zero padded
556 numbers for "size", "mtime" and "checksum". The default is 0,
557 indicating that we will create space padded numbers. Added for
558 compatibility with "busybox" implementations.
559
561 What's the minimum perl version required to run Archive::Tar?
562 You will need perl version 5.005_03 or newer.
563 Isn't Archive::Tar slow?
565 Yes it is. It's pure perl, so it's a lot slower then your
566 "/bin/tar" However, it's very portable. If speed is an issue,
567 consider using "/bin/tar" instead.
568 Isn't Archive::Tar heavier on memory than /bin/tar?
570 Yes it is, see previous answer. Since "Compress::Zlib" and
571 therefore "IO::Zlib" doesn't support "seek" on their filehandles,
572 there is little choice but to read the archive into memory. This
573 is ok if you want to do in-memory manipulation of the archive.
574 If you just want to extract, use the "extract_archive" class method
576 instead. It will optimize and write to disk immediately.
577 Another option is to use the "iter" class method to iterate over
579 the files in the tarball without reading them all in memory at
580 once.
581 Can you lazy-load data instead?
583 In some cases, yes. You can use the "iter" class method to iterate
584 over the files in the tarball without reading them all in memory at
585 once.
586 How much memory will an X kb tar file need?
588 Probably more than X kb, since it will all be read into memory. If
589 this is a problem, and you don't need to do in memory manipulation
590 of the archive, consider using the "iter" class method, or
591 "/bin/tar" instead.
592 What do you do with unsupported filetypes in an archive?
594 "Unix" has a few filetypes that aren't supported on other
595 platforms, like "Win32". If we encounter a "hardlink" or "symlink"
596 we'll just try to make a copy of the original file, rather than
597 throwing an error.
598 This does require you to read the entire archive in to memory
600 first, since otherwise we wouldn't know what data to fill the copy
601 with. (This means that you cannot use the class methods, including
602 "iter" on archives that have incompatible filetypes and still
603 expect things to work).
604 For other filetypes, like "chardevs" and "blockdevs" we'll warn
606 that the extraction of this particular item didn't work.
607 I'm using WinZip, or some other non-POSIX client, and files are not
609 being extracted properly!
610 By default, "Archive::Tar" is in a completely POSIX-compatible
611 mode, which uses the POSIX-specification of "tar" to store files.
612 For paths greater than 100 characters, this is done using the
613 "POSIX header prefix". Non-POSIX-compatible clients may not support
614 this part of the specification, and may only support the "GNU
615 Extended Header" functionality. To facilitate those clients, you
616 can set the $Archive::Tar::DO_NOT_USE_PREFIX variable to "true".
617 See the "GLOBAL VARIABLES" section for details on this variable.
618 Note that GNU tar earlier than version 1.14 does not cope well with
620 the "POSIX header prefix". If you use such a version, consider
621 setting the $Archive::Tar::DO_NOT_USE_PREFIX variable to "true".
622 How do I extract only files that have property X from an archive?
624 Sometimes, you might not wish to extract a complete archive, just
625 the files that are relevant to you, based on some criteria.
626 You can do this by filtering a list of "Archive::Tar::File" objects
628 based on your criteria. For example, to extract only files that
629 have the string "foo" in their title, you would use:
630 $tar->extract(
632 grep { $_->full_path =~ /foo/ } $tar->get_files
633 );
634 This way, you can filter on any attribute of the files in the
636 archive. Consult the "Archive::Tar::File" documentation on how to
637 use these objects.
638 How do I access .tar.Z files?
640 The "Archive::Tar" module can optionally use "Compress::Zlib" (via
641 the "IO::Zlib" module) to access tar files that have been
642 compressed with "gzip". Unfortunately tar files compressed with the
643 Unix "compress" utility cannot be read by "Compress::Zlib" and so
644 cannot be directly accesses by "Archive::Tar".
645 If the "uncompress" or "gunzip" programs are available, you can use
647 one of these workarounds to read ".tar.Z" files from "Archive::Tar"
648 Firstly with "uncompress"
650 use Archive::Tar;
652 open F, "uncompress -c $filename |";
654 my $tar = Archive::Tar->new(*F);
655 ...
656 and this with "gunzip"
658 use Archive::Tar;
660 open F, "gunzip -c $filename |";
662 my $tar = Archive::Tar->new(*F);
663 ...
664 Similarly, if the "compress" program is available, you can use this
666 to write a ".tar.Z" file
667 use Archive::Tar;
669 use IO::File;
670 my $fh = new IO::File "| compress -c >$filename";
672 my $tar = Archive::Tar->new();
673 ...
674 $tar->write($fh);
675 $fh->close ;
676 How do I handle Unicode strings?
678 "Archive::Tar" uses byte semantics for any files it reads from or
679 writes to disk. This is not a problem if you only deal with files
680 and never look at their content or work solely with byte strings.
681 But if you use Unicode strings with character semantics, some
682 additional steps need to be taken.
683 For example, if you add a Unicode string like
685 # Problem
687 $tar->add_data('file.txt', "Euro: \x{20AC}");
688 then there will be a problem later when the tarfile gets written
690 out to disk via "$tar-"write()>:
691 Wide character in print at .../Archive/Tar.pm line 1014.
693 The data was added as a Unicode string and when writing it out to
695 disk, the ":utf8" line discipline wasn't set by "Archive::Tar", so
696 Perl tried to convert the string to ISO-8859 and failed. The
697 written file now contains garbage.
698 For this reason, Unicode strings need to be converted to
700 UTF-8-encoded bytestrings before they are handed off to
701 "add_data()":
702 use Encode;
704 my $data = "Accented character: \x{20AC}";
705 $data = encode('utf8', $data);
706 $tar->add_data('file.txt', $data);
708 A opposite problem occurs if you extract a UTF8-encoded file from a
710 tarball. Using "get_content()" on the "Archive::Tar::File" object
711 will return its content as a bytestring, not as a Unicode string.
712 If you want it to be a Unicode string (because you want character
714 semantics with operations like regular expression matching), you
715 need to decode the UTF8-encoded content and have Perl convert it
716 into a Unicode string:
717 use Encode;
719 my $data = $tar->get_content();
720 # Make it a Unicode string
722 $data = decode('utf8', $data);
723 There is no easy way to provide this functionality in
725 "Archive::Tar", because a tarball can contain many files, and each
726 of which could be encoded in a different way.
727
729 The AIX tar does not fill all unused space in the tar archive with
730 0x00. This sometimes leads to warning messages from "Archive::Tar".
731 Invalid header block at offset nnn
733 A fix for that problem is scheduled to be released in the following
735 levels of AIX, all of which should be coming out in the 4th quarter of
736 2009:
737 AIX 5.3 TL7 SP10
739 AIX 5.3 TL8 SP8
740 AIX 5.3 TL9 SP5
741 AIX 5.3 TL10 SP2
742 AIX 6.1 TL0 SP11
744 AIX 6.1 TL1 SP7
745 AIX 6.1 TL2 SP6
746 AIX 6.1 TL3 SP3
747 The IBM APAR number for this problem is IZ50240 (Reported component ID:
749 5765G0300 / AIX 5.3). It is possible to get an ifix for that problem.
750 If you need an ifix please contact your local IBM AIX support.
751
753 Check if passed in handles are open for read/write
754 Currently I don't know of any portable pure perl way to do this.
755 Suggestions welcome.
756 Allow archives to be passed in as string
758 Currently, we only allow opened filehandles or filenames, but not
759 strings. The internals would need some reworking to facilitate
760 stringified archives.
761 Facilitate processing an opened filehandle of a compressed archive
763 Currently, we only support this if the filehandle is an IO::Zlib
764 object. Environments, like apache, will present you with an opened
765 filehandle to an uploaded file, which might be a compressed
766 archive.
767
769 The GNU tar specification
770 "http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/tar.html"
771 The PAX format specification
773 The specification which tar derives from; "
774 http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/utilities/pax.html"
775 A comparison of GNU and POSIX tar standards;
777 "http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/tar/tar_114.html"
778 GNU tar intends to switch to POSIX compatibility
779 GNU Tar authors have expressed their intention to become completely
780 POSIX-compatible;
781 "http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/Formats.html"
782 A Comparison between various tar implementations
784 Lists known issues and incompatibilities;
785 "http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/utils/archivers/star/README.otherbugs"
786
788 This module by Jos Boumans <kane@cpan.org>.
789 Please reports bugs to <bug-archive-tar@rt.cpan.org>.
791
793 Thanks to Sean Burke, Chris Nandor, Chip Salzenberg, Tim Heaney, Gisle
794 Aas, Rainer Tammer and especially Andrew Savige for their help and
795 suggestions.
796
798 This module is copyright (c) 2002 - 2009 Jos Boumans <kane@cpan.org>.
799 All rights reserved.
800 This library is free software; you may redistribute and/or modify it
802 under the same terms as Perl itself.
803perl v5.16.3 2013-06-18 Archive::Tar(3)